October 22, 2013

Mizzou revamps its lethal injection protocol and drug source for next execution

As reported in this new Reuters article, Missouri just announced new execution procedures to deal with lethal drug acquisition problems. Here are the basics and some national context:

A "compounding pharmacy" will supply lethal injection drugs for future executions in Missouri, the latest U.S. state to turn to the lightly regulated sector after major pharmaceutical companies refused to sell drugs for executions, the state said on Tuesday.

The Missouri Department of Corrections said in a brief statement that it would switch to using a single drug for executions, pentobarbital. Missouri had used a three drug protocol until recently.
"The department also announced that it has added a compounding pharmacy to its execution team," the statement said. Asked the name of the pharmacy, department spokesman David Owen said that information could not be disclosed.

Missouri is the latest of a half dozen U.S. states turning for lethal injection drugs to compounding pharmacies - which typically mix drugs for individual prescriptions and are subject to light federal government regulation.
The practice has drawn protests from opponents of the death penalty and advocates for death row inmates, who say the lack of regulation risks a botched execution....
Compounding pharmacies must register with state authorities but their products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

Texas this month executed its first prisoner using a drug from a compounding pharmacy. Other states which have turned to such suppliers or have said they may do so soon include Georgia, South Dakota, Colorado and Ohio.
A judge in Georgia this year granted a temporary stay of execution for a prisoner in part because of concerns about the quality of the compounded drug.

Missouri announced earlier this month that it would search for a new drug for executions after it came under pressure from drug makers, especially in Europe, not to use the drug propofol in executions.

The New Republic has published a somewhat related article here under the headline "Big Pharma May Help End the Death Penalty: Boycotts don't work against Texas executioners. But they could hurt pharmaceutical firms that make execution drugs."

Comments

The pro-Boston Marathon massacre lobby, be it at the New Republic or elsewhere, just doesn't get it: As long as the DP enjoys 2-1 public support in this country, it's not going to get abolished by gimmicks about whether we use Drug A or Drug B.

Abolitionists, having failed in their years-long Roger Keith Coleman innocence flim-flam, are reduced to fantasizing that longstanding public support can be nullified by "Big Pharma."

Abolitionism sounded more convincing before it became delusional.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Oct 22, 2013 11:36:37 PM

Well, in the words of Stringer Bell: "Get on with it moth . . . ."

That a racist killer like Joseph Franklin has lived this long on the row is an affront to his victims, which include little kids playing . . . ."

Posted by: federalist | Oct 22, 2013 11:46:14 PM

I adhere to the Sixth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill. I do not abide by some Exception that says that Y'all Can Kill.
Why do you pussyfoot around and term it Execution when the word is Kill?
If you do not believe in God and in the possibility of going to Hell for killing others then go ahead and kill away.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Oct 23, 2013 12:15:06 AM

Does anyone know what's going on with the federal lethal-injection litigation? Federal executions have been stayed since way back in 2006. As far as I know, there's been absolutely no recent news reporting on this matter.

Posted by: alpino | Oct 23, 2013 2:34:32 AM

Mizzou? I see the Mizzou Tigers are 7-0.

The 6th Commandment speaks of murder. But, if Liberty1st thinks killing in self-defense if an attacker comes at you with a gun is wrong, so be it. Being against the death penalty is a belief held by many people, even if it is deemed "delusional" by some people.

Believing that killing in self defense is wrong is a problem that would seem to take care of itself, in the long term at least.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Oct 23, 2013 1:08:49 PM

Joe,

Liberty 1st is a troll (at least in this case). He has been shown repeatedly that the commandment really reads "Thou shall not murder", as it uses the Hebrew word "ratsach."

He pulls this same nonsense at least once a week.

Posted by: TarlsQtr1 | Oct 23, 2013 1:15:35 PM

Trolls keep their replies short. The Sears Roebuck version of the Bible has been amended to satisfy the Rick Perry's of the world so they can make political hay out of killing humans on their "death rows". Go row your boats to hell. But, I don't believe in God, the HereAfter or the Ten Commandments. I throw that up there for the hypocrites who know their Bibles well and are glad to kill other humans.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Oct 23, 2013 10:48:25 PM

Joe --

"Being against the death penalty is a belief held by many people, even if it is deemed 'delusional' by some people."

I never said it was delusional. What's delusional is the belief that the DP can be abolished by difficulties in obtaining Drug A versus Drug B. As long as the DP enjoys 2-1 support in this country, a level that (at minimum) it has maintained for at least 30 years, it's not going to be abolished.

And don't look to SCOTUS to frustrate the democratic will, either. Unlike in the days of Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun and Stevens, today not a single sitting Justice has said, implied or intimated that the DP is a per se constitutional violation. Kagan in particular made this clear in her confirmation testimony.

The central thesis of the article is that the strong electoral and judicial consensus against abolition can be reversed by a fancy dance with drug availability.

That would be an outrageous way to achieve abolition if it were true, but it's not true. As you certainly know, don't you?

Liberty 1st-The original Hebrew is not the "Sears and Roebuck's" version of the Bible, it is the original. It was "amended" when it was translated into English because there is no word in the language that means exactly what "Ratsach" does.

You do not have to believe in God to know that; middle school proficiency in history should do.

Posted by: TarlsQtr1 | Oct 24, 2013 3:19:46 PM

Joe --

You didn't have to. It was obvious. And I stand by my statement that what's delusional is the belief that the DP can be abolished by difficulties in obtaining Drug A versus Drug B. As long as the DP enjoys 2-1 support in this country, a level that (at minimum) it has maintained for at least 30 years, it's not going to be abolished.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Oct 24, 2013 4:37:10 PM

Y'all Shalt Not Murder.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Oct 27, 2013 1:43:02 AM

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